New hotels aim at 300 rooms

More than 2,000 hotels worldwide are scheduled to open by 2014; the majority being luxury properties and most are located in the United States.

Most hotel projects are mid-sized, however, according to a study by tophotelprojects.com. Ninety-two per cent of all scheduled first class and luxury hotels are planned with a maximum of 500 rooms. The majority, 42 per cent, will be opened with 150 to 300 rooms. Only two per cent of these projects will have more than 1,000 guest rooms and suites. At 6,500 rooms the largest project is the Asia Asia Hotel in Dubai.

Over one third of all new hotels are located in Europe, but 60 per cent of the largest hotels - with more than 2,800 rooms - are under construction in the United States. For this study, hotel experts from tophotelprojects.com analysed more than 1,800 hotel projects worldwide.

"Fifty five per cent of all projects can be categorized as high-luxury hotels", Rolf Schmidt, managing owner of CHD Expert Group - publisher of tophotelprojects.com - explains, "and 45 pert cent will be so called first-class hotels".

In Europe, where 32 per cent of all current projects are located, the number of first class hotel projects is nearly 64 per cent. "In Europe, we believe the market is approaching a saturation of luxury hotels", Schmidt comments.

In comparison, in Eastern Asia - where 26 per cent of all current hotel projects are under construction - nearly 70 per cent per cent are luxury properties.

"The return on investment for first class hotels aimed at business travellers, for instance, is much higher”.